Honey Badgers Beat Hooligans 4-2 to Remain Undefeated!

The Honey Badgers defeated the Hooligans 4-2 to cap off their undefeated Fall Season and move back into sole possession of 1st place in the Over 30C division. The first half of the season has been a roaring success, with maximum points in all but 2 games and a mind-blowing +22 goal difference.

Cameron Road turned up with a strong emphasis on defense – with Luke, Jeff, Crosley and Dave starting things off in front of Jay. The midfield was packed with Peyton, Peterson, Ciro and “Danny”. Willis plucked himself out of the middle of the park to partner with Chappy up front, and Gianluca, Adam and Dermot also turned up to round out a scrappy squad.

Fortunately for the Honey Badgers, these Hooligans weren’t anything to be scared of. There were no prison shanks, brass knuckles, spiked metal shin guards, or molotov cocktails in their arsenal. They had a few good players, including a hulking forward with good technical skills, but CRU was feeling confident of a quick start and a strong performance.

Unfortunately, things got off to a rocky start as the Hooligans struck first on a counter attack. With the alarm bell successfully sounded, Cameron Road got back into the game and leveled the score with the help of a most intricate Willis dummy move. As Ryan ran parallel to the goal inside the box, he intentionally whiffed his left-footed shot, thereby helicoptering himself around like a rusty auger. This distraction caused the ball to ping pong to the edge of the box where Luke was surging forward. When presented with such a bounty, Luke knew exactly what to do and drove home his 6th goal of the season (suck it Michaelis) to draw the Honey Badgers level.

To make matters worse for the Hooligans, another CRU attack resulted in a long range own goal that the keeper should have done better on. Basically, he whiffed at a ground ball and it rolled right past him into his own net. 2-1 Cameron Road. The Treeline stirred.

And to cap off the half, Luke sent in a 40 yard free kick that found Willis at the back post where he headed in the third goal of the half. 3-1 Cameron Road. Even with the lead, the halftime banter sounded eerily familiar: make better passes, keep the ball, take shots.

The next player on the score sheet was Jefe…. unfortunately his sweet header found the back of Jay’s net instead of the Hooligans. Luckily, Jefe was using some Jedi reverse psychology shit as he lulled the opposition into thinking they actually had a shot at getting back into the game. The plan worked perfectly, as they got more frustrated as the game wound down. The referees also added to their frustration as it looked like they had the tying goal in the back of the net. Instead, the ref signaled for a free kick just outside the box. Now it was time for the linesman to intervene. A ball from another field rolled into the box, so he told us to remove it. As most of the team turned to look and gather the ball, the chief Hooligan took a quick free kick and fired it into the top corner…. of course, that too didn’t count since we were busy dealing with the other ball at the linesman’s request. His second free kick attempt didn’t fare as well, and his constant bickering earned him quite a bit of residual heckling.

With thoughts of another goal on their mind, the Honey Badgers continued pressing as Peterson chased down a loose ball at midfield and lashed out a left-footed rocket that sailed just over the bar. Ciro had two fantastic runs down the right hand side but was unable to get the ball to Ryan at the back post in good positions. But it was Adam who popped up as Johnny on the Spot to seal the game with his close range tap in of Gianluca’s shot that was blocked by the keeper.

At 4-2 it was pretty much game over. Chappy tried to sneak in a consolation goal as Willis scurried like a ghost crab on the beach at dusk to the back post. His cross was tapped in by Captain, but his poaching effort was rulled offside…. much to the delight of his own teammates on the sidelines.

And so ended soccer for 2012. It has been a smashing season so far and sights are set high for a Division Title run in the Spring.

Man-of-the-Match: Luke! With a first half goal and assist from his defensive position, Luke did his Grandmother’s cooking proud as he also sopped up Hooligan attacks with his thunderous headers.

Man-of-the-Post-Match: You bring a keg of Guinness to the game…. you get an award. El Jefé and Peyton be praised.